The Legend of Zelda: A Dark Presence
by Canadian Moose
Summary: A plague ravages Hyrule, and it's up to the Princess to hold the fort while her father is quarantined and Impa is after a cure. Will Link and his fairy partner return in time to help out? And is a rebelous teenaged Link serious enough to take on such a ta


**The Legend of Zelda: A Dark Presence **

**Chapter 1**

_Deeds of a hero, a great hero, are never known for fact. Heroes are mere legend, and destiny prefers to keep it that way. A great catastrophe is a matter of legend too, as long a hero is there to avert it. A hero must know that his work is un-sung or briefly praised and quickly forgotten. The greatest hero will forever stand for justice, peace and order. He will be clad in green and he will be blessed by the presence of a fairy. Only he can pull the mighty sword from the stone._

This wasn't something the princess could have expected, the king on his deathbed, the castle town infected with a horrible disease. She felt the darkness for a long while, but this was not how it was prophesied. An evil man from the west was supposed to come, but rather, the only person to come from the west was Nabooru, leader of the Gerudo, to pledge her people's allegiance to the king. Although a thief, she was not of evil influence and she had been true to her word. That incident was four years ago, if her intentions were evil, then surely it would have been made evident much sooner than now. What was Zelda to do? The king had been quarantined. The medics and the medicine men feared that the disease could be spread through the entire royal family, mainly her, if he was not. She had no experience as a leader. She was content in smelling flowers in the royal gardens for all of her life to that point; the cold stare of Impa would make her feel secure. Now Impa was away searching for a cure and she could no longer see her father. She needed someone to lean on, someone that would take care of her and lift her kingdom off their knees. She needed a hero… 

_Clang! The young man clashed swords with his adversary, the battle had been raging for who knows how long. The young man didn't show the slightest bit of fatigue, his rigidly defined muscles flexed and un-flexed with his movements, each stronger than the last. A fierce look of determination burned in his eyes, making his opponent slowly lose his aggressiveness, as he struggled to keep one step ahead of his advancing foe. The young man launched his final attack at the beleaguered opponent, whose attempt to counter was quickly turned aside. _

"Touché," said the fallen combatant. A crowd cheered loudly. The victorious young man smiled widely and waved to the crowd. A large, fat man ran up onto the battle platform. 

"And this year's winner of the city tournament is Link," boomed the man, much to the approval of the crowd. "And I'd like to thank all competitors for a great tournament." A pretty young creature then came out from the crowd, and with a kiss on Link's sweaty cheek she handed him a sack full of rupees. He smiled appropriately and raised the bag above his to acknowledge the crowd. 

The bag of money clattered as Link dropped it into his horse's saddle bag. He tied the saddle shut and mounted the beast. From his long green cap shot out a fairy which left a glowing spiral of fairy dust as it orbited his head. 

"Don't you think it's time we headed back to Hyrule, Link?" The fairy questioned condescendingly. The young man rolled his eyes and sighed.

"It's quiet and peaceful," he grunted, then unsheathed his sword, "I need adventure! I need action!" He sheathed his weapon and brushed his bangs from his eyes. "Besides, I want to put as much room between me and Ruto." 

"She doesn't even remember you because you reset time after you sealed Gannon in the Evil Realm." 

"I intend to keep it that way."

"In fact," Navi continued, not paying attention to Link, "No one should remember you. How do you even get Epona?" 

"I paid a visit to the ranch after I decided to search for you," he admitted, "Malon didn't want to let her go." 

"So what did you do?"   
"Stole Epona." Navi began to flutter up and down violently. 

"You did what?" she asked angrily. 

"You heard me," Link said with a casual shrug, "I stole the horse." 

"That's why you don't want to go back to Hyrule?" 

"Is that a good enough reason?" He tried to hold back a smile.

"Considering that smirk, I don't believe you."

"Time to make up something more believable then," declared the young hero.

"Link, enough." 

"Alright, alright to Hyrule!" 

Like a shadow, the women moved without sound. After months of searching, she is finally close to her goal. The cure must be close, she thought, I can feel it. She was a tower of woman; she made Stalfos look like children. Speaking of which, she ran into another one of those. Half-heartedly she knocked away the monster. Her journey was long, and she was losing her patience. She finally ran into a dead end. She slammed a fist on the wall in frustration. To her surprise, the wall collapsed and revealed a room. Cautiously, she entered. A black mist began to collect in front of her, she readied her staff. A figure became visible. The woman tried to stare it down with her cold, rigid features and fiery red eyes. It emitted an evil cackle and then attacked the readied warrior. The first attack's fury surprised her, and she stumbled back. She then all of a sudden felt a pain in her chest. She collapsed to ground as her body began to feel cold. She was dead.


End file.
